Mad Music: Musiikin maailma

by Riku Rantala, Tuomas Milonoff

360 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2016

Reviews

[Ville Verkkapuro · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been a musician for the most of my life. There's been bands that have shaped the way I see music, but most of them I've encountered when being very young and just starting out. The older I get, the harder it is for me to find something new regarding music or see music itself in a new light. This book changed all of that. It's a very informative package of the state and history of music in the world overall, but also changed the way I arrange and look at music. Love this. My favorite thing from the book is the story of noise music: the whole music style is based on the feedback of the guitars. But also, born in both Japan and in the US at the same time, both of the countries took influence of each other, thus generating feedback.

[Tinssu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oon vuosien ajan lukenu tätä pätkissä ja viimein sain luettua loppuun. Aika järkäle, paljon mielenkiintoista tietoa. Välillä piti palata sivu taaksepäin koska oli "faktaruutuja" vaikka varsinainen teksti jatkui seuraavalle sivulle, se ärsytti välillä. Kirjan mukana tulleen levyn oon antanut pois kun itsellä ei ole laitteita millä sitä kuunnella. Löytynee jyybityybistä tarvittaessa.

[Markku · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mainio käsikirja eri maiden musiikkiin. Mutta valitettavasti itsenäni häiritsi stadin slangi niin Helsingissä kuin asunkin.

[Jukka Kuva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mad Music offers a quite comprehensive look at music styles from around the world and their origins. The book is divided into ten rough geographical/cultural segments that the book goes through with a well crafted narrative. Each segment is also peppered with sub-segments about various music genres, musicians, albums, instruments, etc. etc..

Sounds incoherent, but really isn't. Mad Music is a musical map and a travel diary at the same time. Reading it cover to cover can take you on a journey or you can just find information on the music of your next travel destination, which I fully intend to do from now on.

At least half of the enjoyment of this book comes from the Spotify - playlists carefully crafted to accompany each segment. Listening to the corresponding music while reading about it really puts you in the correct mood and doesn't help travel fever one bit. The only problem with the playlists is that they've worked too hard to assemble them and there is enough music for at least double the time it takes to read through each segment!

If I would criticize this book about something, it would be the layout. If you wish to read in full segments you often need to turn the pages back and forth. But it's a small bother in an otherwise great book, that has definitely earned a prime spot in my bookshelf.